A compelling and audacious tale about wanting to escape one's past, Duncan Roy's debut feature AKA offers further confirmation of a renaissance in British film-making. kamera.co.uk's Jason Wood talks to its director.
Jason Wood: Could you just begin by detailing how you made the transition to film-making and what precipitated the move.
Duncan Roy: Film-making synthesised everything I had ever learned. I had worked briefly in fashion, art, property development, illustration, performance art and theatre, so to go to Bournemouth Film School merely joined the dots to make the picture of my career as a film maker.
JW: A fascinating, autobiographical story, were you at any stage wary of committing your tale to screen?
DR: I never ever wanted to make AKA but was persuaded by Robin Gutch and Jaquie Lawrence at Channel Four. It makes me very vulnerable to attack. I am accused of vanity, self-aggrandisement, lying, and reinvention. The story, MY story is merely a springboard from which I can leap as an artist into something unimagined. After all the truth, my truth is MY truth and that wouldn't make a very good film so I had to structure the story away from what actually happened. The narrative has caused others to get very angry; I have been accused of twisting the truth. As I said, a film is not the truth. It is entertainment. My story was initially interesting to Channel Four because they wanted a kind of Raffles type adventure, what they got was an escape from self movie. Which, incidentally, is very funny.
JW: I understand that in terms of funding and industry support the film was a struggle to get made. Could you talk a little about the processes you had to go through to reach completion and what do you feel there was such resistance in terms of getting support from the British film industry?
DR: After Film Four abandoned the project I knew that I had to finish it and did so on my own. Paul Trijbits then told my producer Margaret Mathieson that the only person interested in AKA would be me. He was later bullied, by the extraordinary Robert Jones into supporting AKA. I totally respect and adore Robert Jones. He is a wonderful and supportive man.
You know that I am a very difficult man with a difficult past. Why should any one trust that I would be able to make a film with a lot of their money? I had to prove myself I suppose. And not take no for an answer. I will probably go on getting resistance from the British film industry and go to America, that's what difficult, clever Brits do, they go where their skill is appreciated, not here where you have to be everybody's mate to get on or take coke in the Groucho Club.
JW: Do you feel this lack of support to be systematic of what could be perceived as a general malaise in terms of British productions?
DR: Look, the problem with the British film industry is that it has lost its way and no Film Council or BFI or any organisation is going to help us. WE as film-makers have just got to start telling the stories that need to be told. You know that I am an ardent republican and I want to make a film called Killing Diana about the death of Diana Princess of Wales as planned by the establishment but can you imagine what shit I would get. We are an intelligent, risky lot us Brits by nature but our spirit is crushed. Crushed by mediocre, cowardly commissioning editors and a judgemental press.
JW: You utilise the tripartite approach to intelligent and beguiling effect. For a first film this was quite a risky format to use. Was it always your intention to adopt this aesthetic and how do you feel it benefits both the subject matter and the multi-faceted character of Dean Page?
DR: I knew that I wanted to make a multi-image film but didn't know how it would turn out when I started. I had seen Gance and knew that it was a future project idea but it kind of worked into the process of AKA and then became the defining aesthetic. The rest fell into place. Of course it was about different facets. But I return to my initial point about the truth and whose truth is it anyway? Each member of the audience will leave with a different experience of the film they have seen just as each person who met me as Lord Rendlesham will have a very strong individual experience of who I was or wasn't.
JW: In regard to the above, I also wanted to ask what particular films or film-makers acted as an inspiration to you. I understand that you took some early advice from Derek Jarman but in terms of form and structure were drawn to Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927).
DR: There is only one great film: Rocco and his Brothers by Visconti (1960)
As I said, Napoleon influenced me but with the plastic nature of tape to film transfer we can play around quite cheaply with multi imaging. I guess that I have been told many times that people wonder why it hasn't been done before. You just have to be brave. Many people told me that I was mad to think about it. Now many people tell me that I am a genius for having done it; who to believe?
JW: I thought that Matthew Leitch was very impressive in the central role. How did you find the process of directing someone who was depicting aspects from your own life?
DR: I found his performance in the flesh very moving. It made me cry. I just felt sorry for him. And me. I looked after him while we made the film and became very close. We are good friends.
JW: So far the critical reaction to the film has been good which must be particularly gratifying considering both the film's highly personal nature and the arduous process of making it. I also understand that Hollywood is calling for your services. Why do you feel the Americans have reacted so strongly to it? Is it purely to do with class aspirations, the film's ambition or does it go deeper?
DR: I don't think that it has anything to do with class. It has to do with anti class, it has to do solely with reinvention. Americans define themselves by their achievements and against a sliding scale of celebrity. As a man who basically changed his name to achieve what most Americans desire, money and status, they question me constantly about the specific skills of reinvention. I am thrilled that the film has been so loved in the US.
JW: I guess you are weighing up your future options but what are you considering for your next project?
DR: I am making a film called SHAME and considering studio picture offers.
